Seemingly out of nowhere, in the tradition of outfielder-turned-second baseman Skip Schumaker, the St. Louis Cardinals shifted 2012 Rookie of the Year candidate Matt Carpenter to second base, a position he had only played for eighteen total innings in professional baseball.
Among baseball’s nineteen second basemen in 2013 who played enough innings to qualify for leaderboards, Carpenter was average to slightly below average. He was at the exact median in Defensive Runs Saved, and he was a touch below average, ranking 15th of 19, by Ultimate Zone Rating per 150 games.